Tales from the Academy

Chapter 39

She contacted Captain Vorhuber and told him the story. After he had chewed her out for letting the incident happen he pretty much agreed with the actions she'd taken. "Talk to the ship's skipper and see if she wants damages paid. If we can keep the fee low enough we can just use the company fund and there'll be no need for any official record of this."

"And the weapons, sir?"

"You did rightly. They're no damn business of ours. We're convoy escorts, not customs agents. Tell you men to keep their mouths shut."

"Will do, sir."

"And don't let this happen again, Ensign."

"No sir." She sighed and cut the connection. She was back in her cabin using what was supposedly a secure comconsole. The convoy was currently making the jumps from Escobar to Shinkibou Ni at which point they would then branch off the highly travelled routes of the Nexus and head out into the Mergenthal Reaches. It was an exciting prospect to Anny, but at the moment she needed to face the music—again—about the damage.

She found Captain Bothari-Jesek on the bridge and had to wait for a few minutes until she was free. "Hello, Anny," she said. "What's up?" Bothari-Jesek was less formal in private, but Anny refused to be anything less than correct.

"We had a bit of an accident down in the cargo hold, ma'am." The Captain's eyebrows went up and she made a little go on motion with her hand. "Nothing serious, really. One of the troopers collided with a meshed-in enclosure and damaged it a bit. We managed to straighten it out pretty well, but I wanted to apologize and offer to pay for any repairs that might be needed."

"I see. Which enclosure was it? Any damage to the cargo inside?"

Anny felt herself blushing. "Uh, no, ma'am, no damage to the cargo, but I'm afraid the enclosure was yours."

"I… see." Bothari-Jesek's expression had become quite neutral. "I'll have to take a look and see if I'll need to bill you for the damage, Ensign. Thank you for telling me. But I'd appreciate it if you kept your exercises out of the cargo hold from now on."

"Yes, ma'am, my captain has already given me that order."

"Good. And I… uh… I don't think there's any need to alarm the other cargo owners aboard by telling them anything about this, do you, Ensign? They can get worried so easily you know."

"No, ma'am. I've already ordered my men not to mention it."

"Good." The Captain seemed to relax. "Well, I've got work to do. See you at dinner." She turned away and went back on to her bridge. Anny stood there for a moment, a part of her oddly disappointed that Bothari-Jesek hadn't suddenly grabbed her and screamed: Oh no! You found the weapons! You fools have ruined everything! Then she shrugged and went back to her cabin. It was no business of hers.

[Scene Break]

"Hey guys!" cried Anny, but the filter mask she was wearing muffled her shout and they didn't hear her. Jer and Alby and Patric and Denis Fallon were half a block away and looking the opposite direction. She broke into a trot and caught up with her friends who greeted her with delight.

There was nothing she wanted more than to hug all of them, but she restrained herself and deftly fended off their attempts to hug her. There were other members of the convoy escort wandering the streets and any one of them could be a spy for Admiral Vorkoff. Yup, I'm really getting paranoid.

"So how are you fellows doing?" she asked. She had exchanged brief messages with them during the trip but this was the first time she'd seen any of them in weeks. They all started talking at once, but eventually it became apparent that they had been doing exactly the same thing that she had: becoming familiar with the ships they were on and drilling their squads. Or at least drilling them as much as the squad sergeants would let them.

"Sometimes it feels like that first cruise to Komarr," grumbled Alby. "They don't treat us like real officers."

"Or that they're afraid we're gonna try and steal their squads away from them," agreed Patric.

"Well, they are their squads," pointed out Jer.

"And under normal circumstances an officer wouldn't be in such close contact with a squad," added Denis. "I mean how'd you like it if the company CO was always right there looking over your shoulder?"

"Yeah I guess," said Alby reluctantly. "But hey! Enough business! We've got shore leave on a strange new world! Let's see some of it!"

"Yeah," agreed Patric. "Pity it's such a dump."

Anny looked around and unfortunately, she had to agree with Patric's assessment. Their first stop in the Mergenthal Reaches was a world called Leander's Hope. Anny wasn't sure who Leander had been or what he'd been hoping for when he found this world, but apparently he'd had pretty low expectations. It was a dry, windy, dusty world. So dusty that visitors needed to wear filter masks to keep their lungs clear. The natives seemed to wear hooded robes that covered their noses and mouths and just left their eyes exposed. Anny wasn't sure how they could bear even that much; the steady sting of blown sand against her cheeks made her glad of the goggles that went with the filter mask. But the air was breathable and that alone had made the place worth colonizing. Where all the free oxygen came from on such a barren planet was a mystery. One of the scientists she'd met on Pogthress had been coming here to investigate that very thing.

The chief city, and location of the space port, was called Goolamech and seemed to consist of low adobe buildings laid out in a rectangular grid. Or at least the first few blocks near the spaceport gates were like that. Anny thought she could see some taller structures in the distance, but the perpetual wind-blown haze made it hard to be sure. The buildings in their immediate vicinity had mostly blank walls with scarcely a door or window to be seen. No shop signs or… anything. Other than some other men from the task force, only a few people were on the streets and they hurried past without giving them a glance.

"I'd have expected there to be shops and stuff close to the space port," said Jer. "It's like a ghost town."

"The computer entry said the place has a population of half a million and there's a, quote: lively trade district, unquote," said Denis.

"Maybe we're just in the wrong part of town," suggested Patric.

"There's not much information on the local computer net," said Denis, looking at his computer pad in frustration. "Each city block seems to have its own name, but they don't really tell you anything. I'm trying to find some sort of index or directory but…"

"Hey, look there," said Alby suddenly. He was pointing at a small group of people who looked to be merchant ship crewmen—they definitely weren't locals—who were walking purposefully down the street and then turned into a small arched opening in the wall of a building and disappeared. "Wonder where they're going?"

"They certainly seemed to know where they were going," said Jer.

"Well let's go see," said Patric. "Beats standing here getting slowly sandblasted."

They all readily agreed to that and walked toward the archway. As they got closer they saw letters deeply carved into the wall above the arch. "Same name as on the computer map," said Denis. "Must mean something."

Just inside the arch were steps leading downward. A couple of glow-strips provided light and they went down. The steps turned left and then right and then right again. After descending what Anny guessed was about fifteen meters below street level the steps ended on a small landing with another arched opening to the left. They stepped through and jerked to a halt with a chorus of gasps.

"Oh… my!" exclaimed Anny.

They were standing on a balcony overlooking a huge enclosed space. The roof above was an enormous skylight that let in a defuse daylight. Below, the space was filled with trees, gardens, pathways, fountains, pools and dozens and dozens of brightly colored kiosks selling goods. Hundreds of people were wandering about. At the sides of the space the walls were actually the fronts of buildings that stepped back in terraces and roof gardens until they met the skylight above. At ground level many of the buildings seemed to be store fronts.

"The buildings we saw on the street were just the top stories of these buildings," cried Alby.

"And they were the back sides of the buildings at that," said Patric. "Everything faces inward here!"

"It's kind of like a small dome back on Komarr," said Jer. "But it's just one city block. I wonder if all the blocks are like this?"

"I think so," said Denis. "Look, there are tunnels at each side. I bet they lead under the street to the next block." Anny looked down and saw several people disappear right under the balcony where they were standing. Indeed, there seemed to be a tunnel beneath them. Stairs led from each side of the balcony down to ground level.

"So that's why there were so few people—locals I mean—on the street," said Anny. "They mostly live down here. Oh, this is lovely!"

"And no one's wearing a mask," said Jer, pulling his off. He sniffed the air. "No dust and a lot more moisture. There must have been a low-level force field on the stairs somewhere." They all took their masks off.

"Come on, let's take a look!" said Alby. He led the way and the others followed. Soon they were exploring the place. Anny breathed in the smell of the flowers and sighed. She didn't mind being on a ship, but she always missed being dirtside. She knew there were people who were only comfortable inside metal bulkheads, but she was never going to be one of them. She ran her hand along the trunk of a date palm and relished the feel of its bark.

There was a variety of goods for sale, mostly handcrafted items and food. Quite a lot of food of many different kinds. "I bet they have big farms under domes like this," said Jer. Alby bought a few trinkets and they sampled some of the food, but they mostly wandered. They followed the tunnels from one block to the next and each one had its own charm. The locals dispensed with their dull robes once indoors and wore brightly colored—and rather daring—costumes that left much of themselves uncovered. Their underground habitats were a bit warm and humid and Anny sweated under her undress greens. She wished she'd worn fatigues.

The locals were friendly and quite willing to talk to the off-worlders (and take their money, of course). They discovered that the names on each block actually referred to a family or clan name. Each block was owned and run by a group of related people. Often each one would specialize in certain types of products: food, textiles, handicrafts and such.

As they got further from the spaceport they found blocks that were primarily residential rather than commercial. The inhabitants were still friendly, but subtly implied that they'd prefer the strangers did not linger. One block was clearly a school with groups of children clustered around their teachers in the open gardens. They glimpsed through other tunnels that some of the blocks were workshops or factories and they weren't allowed into those areas. After a few hours they curved their path back toward the spaceport and the commercial regions. They had until midnight before they had to get back to their ships. They wanted to find some dinner and maybe some fun.

Anny and Jer often walked side by side, but in whispered tones she told him about her 'conversation' with the Admiral. He agreed to avoid any incriminating actions, although they did brush hands when they were sure they were unobserved. Damn! She really wanted a hug! Instead they talked. Just talked. About what they were seeing, about the ships they were stationed on, about simple things. Anny told him all about Captain Bothari-Jesek and her connection with the Vorkosigans. She said nothing about the weapons, of course. They walked and they talked and it was very, very nice. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him until he was there beside her.

Up ahead they heard the sound of music and laughter. The next block appeared to be some sort of entertainment area. They walked through the tunnel into a festival-like atmosphere. There were colored lights and banners hanging down from the buildings and the roof, several bands and singing groups competed with each other and people danced to the music. It also seemed to be part restaurant with people sitting at tables and waiters moving around them.

"At last!" said Patric, "I'm starved!"

"You've been eating almost non-stop," said Alby. "You've hardly gone past a stand without sampling something." Patric just shrugged.

"Well, I can see more like this through the next tunnel," said Jer. "Let's not just pick the first thing we see." The others agreed to that, although Patric only reluctantly. They moved on to the next block and it was similar, but with different music and different food. They stayed and listened to the music and watched the dancing for a while and then moved on. It was getting dark outside and the lights inside the blocks were getting brighter. They were all hungry now and resolved that they would stop in the next block for dinner.

"Say, this looks… interesting!" exclaimed Alby as they emerged from the tunnel.

Anny's pace faltered. At first glance the place looked like the previous blocks, but on a closer look she realized it was… different. Yes, it had music and yes it was a restaurant, but the waiters and waitresses were all stripped to the waist and there were others, similarly un-attired, dancing on platforms or with customers out on the floor. Many of those customers were clearly not locals and Anny saw more than a few men in Barrayaran uniforms. Alby, Patric and Denis were all staring with wide eyes.

"Uh, maybe we should go back to that last place," stammered Jer.

"Hey, we're here to sample the local culture," protested Alby.

"But…" he looked at Anny.

"It's all right," she said. "I don't mind." She wasn't sure if that was really true, but this was definitely… interesting.

"Well, there are certainly plenty of guys from the task force here," said Denis. "A few of them are officers. Can't be off-limits or anything."

"What the heck?" said Patric. "Anyway, I'm hungry."

A pretty, bare-breasted woman led them to a table and shortly another woman arrived to hand out menus and take orders for drinks. Anny choked when she saw the prices. They were being paid as ensigns and had exchanged some of their accumulated pay into the local trade credits at the spaceport, but a meal was going to cost a week's pay!

"It's all on me," said Alby. "Relax and enjoy."

"Alby, we really shouldn't…"

"Why the hell not?"

"Well…"

"See? You can't think of a reason. Now shut up and drink your drink."

"I haven't gotten my drink yet. But… okay. And thanks."

"My pleasure—really."

Their drinks arrived and they ordered their meals. The boys all had a lot of questions for their grinning waitress about just what each dish was like. The woman was very obliging and would lean forward to point out items on the menu. "Great service here," sighed Alby when the woman finally withdrew. "Gonna leave her a nice tip."

They sat back, sipped their drinks—Anny had ordered something that was fruity, but clearly had alcohol in it—listened to the music and watched the dancers. "I think I like Leander's Hope," said Patric.

"I wonder what the rest of the planet is like?" said Anny. "It can't all be like this. Has to be a lot of hard work going on somewhere to support this."

"Just like anywhere, I guess," said Jer.

They got their food and it was very good. A bit spicier than Anny would normally like, but still good. And the portions were big enough to satisfy even Patric. Later the waitress returned and successfully tempted them with deserts and coffee or tea. Anny checked the time and saw they still had three hours before they needed to catch their shuttles. Just sitting here and enjoying the moment seemed like a fine idea.

After a bit a very pretty woman swirled up and stopped beside Patric. "Dance with me, handsome soldier?" she asked. The big farm boy blushed and looked awkwardly between her and his friends.

"Hey, go ahead," said Alby. Jer and Denis urged him on as well and soon he was out on the dance floor. A moment later another girl had dragged away Denis Fallon. The remaining threesome watched their friends dance, but they began to notice that many of the other people dancing with the locals didn't return directly to their tables when the dance was finished. Instead they headed for one of the many, many doors lining the walls on three sides of the block. They would disappear with their partners for a while…

"Is this what I think it is…?" asked Jer.

"It would appear so," said Anny. "Heavens."

"And there goes Denis," said Alby with a huge grin. "Can Patric be far behind?"

"Heavens," said Anny again, both amused and shocked.

"Wow," said Alby. "Look at that one over there," indicating one of the local girls who seemed to be taking a breather. "All alone, too. Maybe I should introduce myself."

"Yes," said Anny primly. "She's beautiful. Looks a bit like Abigail, too, don't you think?"

Alby had been halfway out of his chair, but abruptly collapsed back into it. He glared at her. "Damn you, Ensign Payne!"

"I was just commenting. Go on and enjoy yourself."

"Yeah, right!" huffed Alby, folding his arms with a sour expression. "Sheesh, I'm only flesh and blood!"

"Yes, I heard that somewhere," said Anny with a smile.

"Dance with me, pretty soldier?"

The voice was from right beside her and Anny jumped. A local man had come up silently and now stood next to her. He was amazingly handsome with the olive skin of his muscled chest glistening in the light. He flashed a smile with dazzling white teeth and held out his hand.

"Hey, go ahead," grumped Alby. "He looks just like Jer, don't you think?"

Anny looked wildly about. Come to think of it she had seen galactic women out on the dance floor with local men. Were they…? "Uh… no… no thank you!" she blurted.

The man continued to smile and then nodded towards Jer. "If you would prefer your own partner, our cubicles are very comfortable with incense and lotions. Only twenty-five credits, pretty soldier."

Anny blushed. In fact she felt flushed to her toes. She looked at Jer and he was blushing, too. Suddenly her heart was pounding and her breath caught in her throat. Damnation, she wanted to! Just take his hand, go through one of those doors, strip off the too-hot uniforms and… Her head spun at the thought. She looked Jer in the eyes and could see he was feeling the same thing. But then he shook his head a tiny bit. Just the tiniest bit.

No. No, there were people from the task force all over the place. If even one of them saw and mentioned it. The rumor would be through every ship in a day. Admiral Vorkoff would hear…and she'd be done.

"Thank you, but no," she heard herself saying. She gripped the edge of the table, smiled and said no. The man tilted his head and then moved away. She slowly let out her breath and waited for her heart to stop racing. Several more girls came by to proposition Alby and Jer, but they both turned them down.

After a bit Patric came back and flopped in his chair. He looked flushed and his tunic wasn't buttoned but he was smiling. "Glad you're paying for the dinner, Alby! I'm broke!"

[Scene Break]

From Leander's Hope the convoy stopped at Jerica, Kalincore and Finnigan's Wake. They only got shore leave at Kalincore and it was a drab and dreary place compared to Leander's Hope, but it was still good to see her friends again.

The other squads in the battalion were being rotated around to different ships to keep the troops on their toes, but Anny and her squad stayed on Pogthress. This didn't really surprise her. Apparently Admiral Vorkoff was satisfied with the convent where he'd stashed Anny and wasn't going to risk letting her out. But her troopers were getting bored and she and Sergeant Zeckman wracked their brains to think of things to keep them occupied. She was getting along pretty well with the Sergeant all things considered. She didn't try to interfere with the way he handled the men and he at least pretended that she was in command. But one of the reasons they didn't get ashore at Jerica was that Major Lurray had a large exercise while the convoy was in parking orbit that had the various squads making mock assaults on each others' ships. It was pretty exciting and everyone enjoyed it, even though it was hard work. That helped keep the men's morale up. And the mere fact that she was still on the ship and still had her squad indicated that the Admiral hadn't been able to find any reason to relieve her. That was satisfying.

On the jumps between Kalinciore and Finnigan's Wake they picked up an unidentified bogie that trailed the convoy for sixteen hours. That had them all at battle stations, but the powerful escort seemed to be enough to keep the bogie from getting too inquisitive and they left it behind when they jumped.

Anny didn't mind staying on Pogthress and she enjoyed the company of Captain Bothari-Jesek when duty allowed. Once she managed to quietly let the captain know that Lord Vorkosigan had spilled the beans on his role with the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, Bothari-Jesek became much more open and they had several private meals in her quarters where she told her some stories that would have been frankly unbelievable if they'd involved anyone besides the Lord Auditor.

"He said that his role as Admiral Naismith was part of a cover and that he was really working for ImpSec. So the Dendarii were really an Imperial Auxiliary force?"

"Partly. It was still a real mercenary unit and not every job we took was for ImpSec. But Miles loves Barrayar more than anything and he would never let us take a contract that might even remotely hurt Barrayar. And of course I fully agreed with that." She paused and looked at Anny. Was that some message to her about those weapons? "I imagine that some of the people suspected, but only a handful of us knew who Miles really was." She paused again and smiled wistfully. "I'm so glad he got out of it with only getting killed once. Glad that he found his Lady Vorkosigan. There was a time when he wanted me for that role, but I couldn't. Barrayar wouldn't let me be who I wanted to be." She looked at Anny. "But maybe I just didn't try hard enough. I'd heard about you, Anny. Now that I've met you, I have to say I'm impressed as hell. Where were you twenty years ago when I needed you?"

Anny was so startled she just blurted out: "I… I'm sorry!"

Bothari-Jesek laughed. "Don't be silly! You have nothing to be sorry about—to anyone. Just keep doing what you're doing and let the fools choke on your dust."

Despite her growing friendship with the captain Anny periodically found a reason to slip into the cargo hold and check on the cases of weapons. After each of the stops they were still there. A couple of times she almost asked Bothari-Jesek about them, but each time she reminded herself of Captain Vorhuber's statement that it was none of her damn business.

Finally, about three months after leaving Barrayar, the convoy jumped into the system of Scalloway. This was the far point of the convoy's journey. From here they would curve back through the Reaches and rejoin the main part of the Nexus at Hegans Hub and then back home again. Not all the ships would be coming with them. A few would be branching off, taking their risk without an escort. Indeed, a few ships had already left the convoy, the Reaches were huge and the opportunities nearly as large. Pogthress would be staying with the convoy, though and Anny was happy about that. So far the trip had been everything she'd dreamed of years before when she concocted this crazy scheme to become a soldier.

From what she'd heard around the dinner table the merchants were having a fairly successful trip, too. Or at least so they hoped. Their trades for rare merchandise were being made, but until they could actually get home and sell them for a profit, no one really knew.

Scalloway was a bit of a rarity in that it had not one, but two habitable planets, Dounby and Pierowall, who shared the same orbit on opposite sides of the star. Most of the population was on Pierowall and that is where most of the convoy went. But Pogthress and three other merchant ships had business on Dounby so the admiral assigned one frigate to watch over them and they headed off to the far side of the sun. They were only scheduled to stay there a few days before rejoining the main convoy at Pierowall, where, supposedly, they would be given shore leave. Anny really wanted to see her friends again. She had invited Captain Bothari-Jesek to come dirtside with her and meet them and she'd tentatively agreed.

A day after making orbit Anny was in the cargo hold helping scan some incoming containers. This was routine work to make sure there weren't any hidden hijackers inside any of the crates. She was watching the crewmen slide a freshly scanned load into its spot when she glanced at the captain's enclose and she caught her breath.

All the containers were gone.

She barely had time to process that before her communicator pinged.

"Ensign Payne, please report to the bridge. Immediately. This is an emergency."